Sailor's courtship (1822)/I'll soon ha'e a wife o' my ain
A WIFE OF MY AIN.
Frae Clyde to the banks o' sweet Earn,
I ve travel'd fu' mon lang mile.
But thoughts of my dearest lass Annie,
th wearisome hours did beguile:
The happy wae night that we parted,
she vow'd she wou'd constant remain;
My heart-strings a' dirl'd wi' fondness!
I kiss'd and kiss’d her again.
Tis no 'cause her cheeks are like roses,
nor yet for her dark rollin' e'e,
'Tis no for her sweet comely features,
these charms are naething to me
The storms o life may soon blast them,
or sickness make them fade away;
But virtue, when fix'd in the bosom,
will flourish, and never decay.
Nae langer I'll spend a' my sister,
nae langer I'll now ly my land,
Nae langer I'll hunt after hizzies,
I'll soon ha'e a wife o' my ain
For mony wild foot I ha'e wander'd,
and mony lang night spent in vain,
Wi' drinkin' and dancin', and courtin',
but I'll soon ha'e a wife o' my ain.
Her mither's ay flytin' and roarin',
I rede you tak' tent o' that chiel;
He'll no be that canny to live wi',
he'll ne'er be like douse Geordy Steel,
He's courted wi' o'er mony lasses,
to slight them he thinks it gude fun;
He'll mak' but a sober ha'f-marrow,
ye'll best rue before ye be bound.
Tho' Geordy be laird of a housie,
and brags o' his kye and his pelf,
Tho' warld's gear I be right scant o',
a fig for't, as lang's I've my heath:
If ance I were kippel'd wi' Annie,
she'll, seldom ha'e cause to complain:
We'll jog on thro' life ay right canny,
when I a wife get o' my ain.
But if that my Annie prove faithless,
and marry before I return;
I'll no, like a cuiff, greet about her,
nor vet for ae minute wi'l mourn;
Awa' straught to some ther beauty,
without loss o' time I will hie
And show to the lasses I'm careless,
unless is they're as willin' as I